Musk announces Twitter purge of inactive accounts

Elon Musk said Monday that Twitter would be purging accounts on the social media platform that had been active for a number of years, continuing a bevy of policy changes that Musk has handed down at the company.

“We’re purging accounts that have had no activity at all for several years, so you will probably see follower count drop,” Twitter CEO Musk said in a post Monday.

It was unclear whether the policy would affect the account of former President Trump, who has not tweeted since Jan. 8, 2021. Trump was banned from the platform in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, but his account was reinstated by Musk last November.

Musk has made a number of changes to the social media platform since he purchased the company for $44 billion last October.

He recently overhauled the platform’s user verification system, taking away verification from users, including journalists, that had been verified under previous methods. Now, verification can be bought by any user who wishes to subscribe to the company’s Twitter Blue product.

It was also unclear whether the purging of inactive accounts would affect NPR, which announced it would no longer use the app after Musk slapped it with a “government-funded media” label.

Musk threatened last week to take away the outlet’s username on the platform and give it to another company.

The Hill reached out to Twitter’s press office for comment.